1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is an atmospheric vertical oilfield tank specifically designed for oilfield fluid streams entering any production or processing facility, to pre-condition the fluid stream in three ways: 1) to remove solids larger than 120 microns from the liquid stream, 2) to remove associated gases and eliminate their inherent mixing energies from the inlet fluid stream, and 3) to divide the flow hydraulically and evenly into two or more effluent streams.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oilfield production fluid streams contain a variety of components, including sand and silt from fracturing operations, drilling fines, formation fines, water, oil, and gases. It is desirable to first remove the sand and gases from the liquid stream prior to attempting to separate the oil from the water. The separation and removal of sand and other solids and associated gases promotes more efficient oil-water separation in downstream processes, adding to oil volumes and minimizing water pollution. The present invention is designed to initially remove the solids and gases from the liquid components of typical oilfield production fluid streams prior to those streams being further processed by one or more downstream oil-water separation systems.
Also, in addition to removing the solids and gases from the inlet production fluid stream, it is desirable to divide the remaining liquid stream into equal effluent streams without the use of pumps to eliminate their associated mixing/shearing energies and costs. This division of the overall stream generates smaller fluid stream flowing at lowered velocities, thus exponentially promoting downstream separation.
The present invention addresses this need by providing an atmospheric vertical oilfield tank that, after removing the sand and gases from the inlet oilfield production fluid stream, also separates the resulting oil and water effluent into equal streams without the use of pumps. The present invention divides the effluent by employing a plurality of vertical overflow tubes, each of which separates the effluent into equal volume effluent streams. Those equal effluent streams then flow under hydraulic pressure to downstream vessels or units where the effluent streams can more efficiently be treated to separate water from oil and to remove any smaller solids remaining in the effluent stream.